21 December 2012

Music Day

Ladies and gentlemen, I am about to present to you a rare gem. It's an unlikely setting, but it's breathtaking in its ability to push the boundaries of tradition without going completely overboard trying to make it sound cool (*cough* Relient K *cough*). Gentle and delicate in some places, yet powerful and soaring in others.

And it features Rick Florian. What else is there to say?

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the only Christmas song White Heart has released to date:

Title: Little Drummer Boy
Artist: White Heart
Album: Christmas
Year: 1988
Label: Sparrow Records
iTunes here; YouTube here.

14 December 2012

Music Day

I had my favourite Christmas song in the world (that's available on iTunes) lined up for today, but now, after that shooting in Connecticut... I picked a different song. There's always next Friday.

This song may admittedly seem a little unorthodox. (But then, I'm not known for following the 'say-all-the-right-things-whether-you-mean-them-or-not' herd.)

I picked it, though, because though there is heart-wrenching grief now and I'm not going to deny that -- there is hope. That man did not escape judgement. When he killed himself, he thought he was off the hook. But instead he found himself standing before the throne of God. And God, the perfect Judge, judged perfectly. Make no mistake, justice has been served today, far better than even the best court on the planet could.

And as for this world, this terrible, broken world... it will be fixed one day. And then the tears will be stopped and gently wiped away, the cries of the children (and the adults) being hurt physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually every day will be silenced. Justice will be served in full. And the world will be right again.

Title: All The King's Horses
Artist: Petra
Album: This Means War!
Year: 1987
Label: Star Song
iTunes here; YouTube here.

All the King's horses and all the King's men
Gonna run down from Heaven from where they've been
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Gonna put this world back together again
Gonna put this world back together again...

13 December 2012

Focus

So I was kind of throwing myself a little pity party again (when will I ever learn to stop that?) -- an old youth group acquaintance just got a huge break into the industry he's been dreaming of for years, my sister is getting her stage script read by a local theatre producer, and a friend of mine got some of her artwork published (it was a fairly small scale, but published nonetheless).

And me... I was just kind of sitting and listening to the same fifteen seconds of the same song over and over and over trying to come up with the next sequence. Like I have for the past year.

Separately, those were all genuine 'congratulations that's awesome!' moments, but all of them in the same week had me reeling a little. Why are they getting results that have people going 'wow, good for you' and I continue to just sit here and be criticised for not having a 'real' job?

Then last night while looking through a drawer in my filing cabinet I found a pink piece of paper with my writing on it -- a list of steps I needed to take to draw me closer to my dancing goal. I remember writing that list -- it was probably only about four to six months ago.

As I read it, I realised I could already check off three things. Things that had seemed insurmountable then. So I did. I literally got out my trusty pencil and checked them off.

Then I started thinking about what I do have going for me now. I have a dance teacher who is totally excited about the fact that I'm so interested in choreography (she let me borrow one book she had on Benesh notation and just this week gave me another booklet she had that talks about it). I have one dance right now that's been absolutely on fire since I picked it up again after NaNoWriMo. In just ten and a half months, I've choreographed eleven dances -- over forty minutes' worth. That's well on the way to being enough for a respectable concert. I now have enough foundational tap that I can begin to experiment -- to choreograph (to say nothing of the fact that I now have tap shoes with which to do it).

I had none of this a year ago.

It may not feel like it, but I am moving closer, closer, closer to the dream...

So I keep working, keep practicing.

03 December 2012

The Girl In The Mirror

The girl in the mirror has a small round face, black pants, blue top, and her hair is tied back.

That little detail makes all the difference. Pulling the hair back can completely alter a person. It has certainly altered the girl watching me from across the studio.

Aside from the teacher, she is the only one in the room. Her height -- or lack of it -- no longer matters. It's not even visible. The dull pain in her leg from a strained muscle is a distant thought.

She is dancing.

And she moves with confidence and dare I say it? a touch of joy as well.

This is a different girl than the one in ballet class, the shy girl who struggles with jumps and whose hips are consistently uneven due to slightly crooked bone structure. This girl has shining eyes and an easy smile. She learns quickly, something she has yet to master in softer shoes.

For once she is dancing with her whole body, not just the feet moving with breathtaking technique but devoid of emotion. Her shoulders, her head, her arms -- they all join the feet as they find and follow the beat.

The girl in the mirror tonight has a touch of daring. Not flirtatious daring... daring just to relax. To smile, to allow herself to have fun. To let her whole self feel the rhythm, not just her feet.

The girl in the mirror is dancing joyfully. And possibly for the first time, she is willing to allow it to peek out through a crack in her hardened exterior.